‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ season 2 is set to premiere on August 29th, 2024. The show aired its first season back in 2022 to a somewhat mixed reception which is a shame considering the eye-watering sum of money Amazon spent on it. The show was initially highly awaited, but as soon as the first promo materials started – the trouble started as well.
It’s hard to think of an aspect of the show that wasn’t criticized by the audiences. Starting with cheap-looking costumes, the portrayal of Galadriel, and numerous inconsistencies with the source material. One one the most highly criticized aspects was that the show somewhat hinted that there’s an enemies-to-lovers type of arc going between Galadriel and Halbrand.
Galadriel itself was portrayed as a completely different character than what we’ve seen in previous adaptations and books in general. She was portrayed as violent, foolhardy, rash, and overeager to take part in violence, something uncharacteristic of her graceful and matronly presence in ‘The Lord of the Rings.’ Her relationship with Halbrand which sometimes leaned more toward passion and romance was the last straw, especially when you take into account that at that point timeline Galadriel was already married to Celeborn and had a daughter with him, Celebrían. Though they didn’t appear in the show at all.
Now season 2 marketing heavily leans on the premise that there’s something romantic going on between Halbrand, now known as Sauron, and Galadriel. The showrunners already explained that the upcoming season will focus more on the villain as Annatar takes command and tries to seduce Celebrimbor into doing his bidding.
Showrunners also acknowledged that the connection between Sauron and Galadriel will be especially important in Season 2, as the Dark Lord is seemingly obsessed with the Elven Lady:
It is a driver of story for quite some time to come and is really satisfying when you see them together again in Season 2.
In the new episodes, Galadriel and Sauron share a profound connection that neither has experienced before, and this bond haunts them both. Their relationship is described as being deeper than romance by Charlie Vickers who portrayed Halbrand:
Their connection runs far deeper than anything surface level.
Now some fans like the idea of the show venturing in that direction while some abhor the idea:
Wait. Wait. Wait.
Wait just a minute. I know I’m way behind the curve here, but am I actually hearing that, in the Amazon series, Galadriel and Sauron are in a Rey Skywalker/Kylo Ren maybe-a-romance-and-maybe-not thing?
GALADRIEL . . . and SAURON.“Shut up!” pic.twitter.com/I69h7pyziO
— JD Gunter Author (@GunterJDAuthor) August 27, 2024
I started off not liking Rings Of Power, then I warmed to it a bit over the season sure it was incredibly flawed but it had moments that were okay, but the whole Sauron and Galadriel romance they are teasing for season 2 is a massive no no for me.
Galadriel would never.— Anothermillennialreviewer (@AnothermillennR) August 27, 2024
basically this stuff taps into a massive audience of romance fans who weren’t otherwise catered to by star wars. the show should’ve been cross-marketed more via booktok etc. weirdly, amazon’s Rings of Power is now leaning into this a lot with Sauron/Galadriel marketing.
— Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (@Hello_Tailor) August 26, 2024
Even if he was dead Celebron would be reborn in Aman just like Glorfindel and the rest but the fact that Galadriel has a daughter and husband that are removed for the sake of Sauron/Galadriel ship/romance is irritating
— Lana Gold (@LanaGol69112781) August 25, 2024
a very misleading clickbait title of an article that actually gets this storyline really well. and even the relationship between disguised Sauron and Galadriel it calls kinship, not romance or love, which gets severed the moment Sauron reveals himself. and i completely agree https://t.co/HHs0gCZAwr pic.twitter.com/0HzUZVxTma
— Ivyy✨TROP ambassador (@rukiasbankaii) August 25, 2024
It’s interesting to me how people will constantly say that Charlie understands Sauron perfectly, & then the second he says there was no romance between Sauron & Galadriel he apparently has no idea what he’s talking about and is lying 🤔 https://t.co/L2S8V3mrJV
— Ali Greene (@AliL490) August 22, 2024
What do you think about the romance between Sauron and Galadriel? Let us know in the comments below!
